Names of Park Hotel/Condo Complex Review Team Revealed

Giving in to demands by local residents and elected officials, the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation has disclosed the names of the people who will decide which of the seven proposed hotel and residential complexes will be built next to Pier 1.

The Brooklyn Paper: On Monday, park staff revealed the four members on the heretofore mysterious selection committee: Regina Myer and David Lowin of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation; Joshua Laird of the Parks Department; and Joshua Gelfman of the Economic Development Corporation.

According to the Brooklyn Paper story, the Corporation decided to release the names “because [they] had become known to a handful of residents on the park’s powerless ‘community advisory council.'” Update: the Brooklyn Daily Eagle says it was done in response to their request under New York State’s Freedom of Information Act.

Also recently revealed is the cost of the bridge connecting Squibb park to the hotel/condo development parcels has increased from $4.9 to $6.2 million, a 26% increase. The Brooklyn Paper has the story: http://bit.ly/uTmSqS

Holly Martins

Wow….have been out of town for awhile and finally saw the linked to renderings of all the proposals. What a goddamn mess. They finally cleared out that area of Furman and put a beautiful park in with world class views for everyone. They just had to ruin it didn’t they?

Worst idea ever.

MARTINLBROOKLYN

What a disappointment! These governmental functionaries simply don’t qualify to be the absolute and final judges for the development of a key, public, world-class site. This smacks of the workings of a political honey-pot. Think of who might be called upon to make such a sensitive judgement. Where are the distinguished architectural critics? The AIA and Pritzker prize winners? The objective city and seaport advocates with no stake in the winner? The world-class landscape and urban planners? Instead, we have a narrow city and state employee group too close to the project and its power sources to exhibit anything like the independent, creative judgement and vital public advocacy which should be brought to bear.

bklyn20

Wow. Even I, ever-cynical regarding the park, thought there would be some non-park employees on the committee. So it’s the BBP Gang of Four… this is more incestuous than most royal families.

Thanks, Matthew Parker for revealing the ballooning cost of the Squibb Bridge.

I hope for a different result, but with a committe like this, HoCondos, here we come!

gc

When all is said and done Squibb Bridge will probably cost as much as the Brooklyn Bridge ($15 million). Is the Sqibb Bridge really worth the money??

Claire

Disgraceful.

Cranberry Beret

Thanks Brooklyn paper and Matthew Parker, for spreading Roy sloane’s misinformation. The squibb bridge is not primarily an amenity for the hotel. It’s for north heights residents, promenade visitors and anyone else passing that way. That the hotel benefits from the bridge is a function of a hotel being plopped down in this park. Shall we cut off our noses to spite our faces? The bridge’s cost is fair game for debate but please don’t confuse the issue with anti-hotel rhetoric.

Matthew Parker

It’s sad when a simple factual statement gets politicized by one side or another. @Cranberry Beret claims I’m spreading “misinformation”. Not sure how he/she determines my factual statement that the Squibb Bridge connects Squibb Park with the development parcels is misinformation? It simply is a verifiable statement of fact. The proposed bridge will connect Squibb Park with the development parcels below. In fact, the bridge will thread directly between Parcel A and Parcel B, with an entry point directly in front of Parcel A.

A simple peek at the development schematics prove this fact. So, Mr./Mrs. Cranberry Beret, I appeal to YOU kindly to stop spreading misinformation.

Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion about various aspects of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Plan, but not their own facts.

Heights Resident

If it is facts we are interested in, let me share two: (1) Both the hotel on Pier 1 and the Squibb Park Bridge have been part of the plan since the original Master Plan created by the LDC over ten years ago. The bridge was included because it provided a way to connect the Heights to the park without having to disturb the Promenade, compromise the view plane, etc. Roy Sloane was a member of the board that adopted that plan. (2) Apart from connecting the Heights to the park, the Squibb Park Bridge is also the most direct possible connection between PS 8 and the park. People staying in the hotel will not need any bridge to get to the park — the kids at PS 8 do.

http://noticingnewyork.blogspot.com/ Michael D. D. White

It is not a gang of four. It amounts to just being Bloomberg himself. Look at who everyone reports to. Do you think that Bloomberg has good taste? Or even has an appreciation of what Brooklyn or the Heights mean to anyone except possibly the very wealthiest? If you recall Bloomberg took over the park and Governor’s Island. Until out of office (when?) he will be making these decisions for quite a few acres, Between the two properties you can see from the Promenade Bloomberg has personal unchecked and absolute jusridiction over 257 acres in all. I covered this at Noticing New York in the two-part: Looking a Gift Horse in the Mouth? An Examination of Brooklyn Bridge Park in Terms of the Politics of Development (Monday, May 24, 2010).

Buggs Bunny

Yup. It’s the Bloomberg. Not the Donald.. the Bloomberg.

PierrepontSkin

It doesn’t matter who’s on the committee or whose decision it is. This whole hotel/condo crap is a terrible idea. I’m furious just thinking about it. YOU KNOW WHAT’S GOING TO BE AWESOME? A NEW BUILDING IN FRONT OF THE PROMENADE. (No, it’s not.)

stuart

shouldn’t they build the park first and then worry about a footbridge?

Jorale-man

The reason why they don’t have architectural experts on the panel is they might actually choose a proposal that has some aesthetic value. It’s clear they want the one that’s the cheapest to build and offers the most bang for the buck. The thing is, it’s one thing to have a slapped-together building in a commercial district in the city; it’s quite another to have one hulking over what should be a pristine new park. All rather sad.

stuart

they will pick the one Michael Bloomberg tells them to pick.

Roy Sloane

Hey “Heights Resident” any time you want to go back to the LDC Master Plan– count me in. But if the plan we all voted for is changed for the worse don’t act surprised if I change my mind too. The LDC plan was a delicate compromise. When your illustrious neighbors got themselves appointed to the BBPDC board and eliminated many of the features that were important to the public and stuck the rest of us with the housing needed to pay for what they wanted– all prior agreements became null and void. Next time, honor your commitments to your neighbors and won’t have any problem getting me to honor mine.

stuart

who the hell are you?

Andrew Porter

I’m still holding out for a high-rise Sanitation Dept. garage or garbage transfer station…

Karl Junkersfeld

stuart,

If you are asking who Roy Sloane is, he is the President of the Cobble Hill Association.

David on Middagh

CHA-CHA-CHA!

Buggs Bunny

Stuart. The “Park” has been hijacked.

stuart

there’s a cobble hill association?

BH’er

Why in the world would you let a hotel go up here? Of all the uses for this precious real estate, giving it up to tourists and hotels would be a travesty.

There has to be a more appropriate use for the waterfront than this!

Advertise on BHB

Support independent hyperlocal news written by neighbors for neighbors. Advertise with us. Rates and info available here.